Doctors Letter

[JohnM]

John will be going to the VA office on Aug 2nd. I wrote a 4 page letter out about all of John's problems including about how his depression, paranoia and anger play in. Took the letter to the Dr. yesterday and he said it sounds good and wanted to know if there was a form that he should fill out to confirm what I said or are we to wait till VA contacts him. The Dr. is very much willing to help us out with this.

Thanks in advance for your input.

John's Wife

[Pete53]

Mr and Mrs John M:

First of all I want to thank Mrs M for standing with her Veteran he is a lucky man. From what I have seen you have done a thorough and commendable job. One thing I am not sure of in your description has your husband written a letter that shows a stressor that can link to PTSD. With his combat noted on DD-214 he can wite a short narrative detailing an incident. If it was documented it would help also.

Your letter will be a big help but his letter detailing one or several incidents that could document PTSD is the key in my opinion. Positive support from Docs is also helpful. If he is not working his work History is also important you can request his Social Security earnings and if he was off work it helps the claim.

Any questions or concerns can be answered on Hadit. If there is not a plausible stressor he can still win his claim if his service is responsible for Depression.

Good work on your claim. Also you may want to request a Hearing at the VARO. In my opinion seeing the Decision Maker is a plus and you can attend with your Veteran.

[JohnM]

No Stessor He won't write anything down, but I am printing these comments and taking it to the

DR. I'm sure he'll write something Down. Thanks Again for your input.

I'm sure glad on came on board.

[Berta]

With the combat awards on his DD 214 and the time frame since he was in Vietnam-there are many unit histories on the net and one can often associate a stressor with an event.

What I mean is my husband was told to file a DD 149 as a county SO thought his DD 214 was incorrect.

When the DD 215 came-the corrected copy-there was awards and decorations on it he never knew he got.

The PUC alone, when I accessed it on the internet-certainly proved his stressors.

But oddly enough Rod thought the PUC was for a volunteer job he and some other Marines did- that was absolutely horrible-they all must have gotten PTSD from this job.Unlike the firefights and maneuvers this "job" did not involve combat at all.

If his unit was in a situation involving major combat or any major non-combat stressor- you might be able to find enough on the net with the unit history so he does not have to talk about it. That could possibly work.

[cowgirl]

No Stessor He won't write anything down, but I am printing these comments and taking it to the

DR. I'm sure he'll write something Down. Thanks Again for your input.

I'm sure glad on came on board.

Johns wife.regards my stressors, I talk vaguely to my husband, detailed to a close sister and more frankly on paper. Just a thought here, check with the doctor, maybe record&transcript a "GI talk" with your husband & close freind. Got a brother in law who'd probably do that, doesn't write anything down that I know of. God bless, cg

[Guest terrysturgis]

Mr. & Mrs. John, I helped a friend with his stressor letter. He did not want to do it with his wife so he called and asked me if I would help as a fellow veteran. I was pleased to help. When we sat down to write it he started to get very emotional but we did get through it. He had a box of photos from Nam and we made copies to send with the stressor letter. Do not send originals. Athough the VA never lost any of my evidence others on this board have had things lost. The veteran I helped received 30% for the PTSD. Way to low but he is happy the decision. Cow Girl says "talk frankly". Do not hold back. For the claim I mentioned we sent photos of the first two enemy my friend killed with an M-60. A bit graphic but a win is a win. Good luck. Terry Sturgis

[JohnM]

Thanks for your input:

John doesn't have all these symptoms I would say at least half and those he doesn't want to admit to.

I handed my letter to our VA Rep. and I guess we will wait and see. I did ask her about the TDIU form and she suggest we wait and see if he gets a rating first. Plus we wanted to add a few other conditions to his list that where not added because we did not know about them the first time around and she suggest waiting on those till we hear something because the list is long now.

We recieve a letter from our IM Dr. it doesn't sound bad but he was not sure if anything would be SC besides age and wear and tear. I have also asked Two other Dr.'s to write a letter on what they believe.

His ear nose and throat dr. because of his hearing and vertigo which isn't going away with therapy, she scheduled a MRI for that so she will wait for the results of it before she writes a letter. And his Spine DR. who prformed the surgery on his back, If Because he has Spina Bifida Occulta being that was a preexciting berore enlistment if that was the begining of his back problems. No that was not written down on his physical they just discovered it this last Feb. during his surgery. and he was just diagnoissed with DMII this year also.I am sure after VA sends him to the DR's They will find that he has PTSD. There are plenty of things I wrote in my letter about it some of which John made me take out, So I figure I will bring them up at his appointment time. He says he will talk to them but under Protest. In other words he does not like talking about things to anyone but family. I don't know if I said it before but he is a very private person and keeps a lot of things inside, but he has been on zoloft now for about six years and he does understand that he can control his anger better, and he tends to laugh things off more now than making threats.